Source Evaluation from Flocabulary Read and Respond

Which of the following websites is the most reliable?

• www.nys.org

• www.nys.com

• www.nys.net

• www.nys.gov

Which of the following is an example of information from an objective, balanced source?

• Politicians are destroying our country. They are liars.

• According to some scientists, drinking water may benefit memory. Other scientists point out that the study linking water and memory is inconclusive.

• Video games are terrible because they make children lazy.

• Winter is the best season of the year because I love skiing. Summer is the worst because I don't get to see my classmates that often.

Which of the following best helps you evaluate a source?

• an author's academic credentials

• an author's sense of humor

• an author's age

• an author's use of charts, graphs and other images

What's the best way to confirm the accuracy of a piece of information?

• look to see what else the author has written

• look at the date that it was published

• check if the author cited their source(s)

• find out if the source was published in print as well as online

A student needs a source for their project on politics and culture in the US in the 1980s. Which would her teacher accept?

• a novel of historical fiction set in 1985

• a diary entry written by the singer Madonna in 1988

• an article about president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s

• an essay about how art of the 1980s influenced later decades

What is the best reason that Wikipedia is not a strong research source?

• Wikipedia authors try to trick people with incorrect information

• Wikipedia never contains citations

• Anyone can edit a Wikipedia entry, so information can be wrong or incomplete

• Wikipedia contains too many details and doesn't give a good overview